Chapter 102 - Another World Burn : Part 7

"What?" Alea croaked. The woman deepened her frown, staring at the two counterparts back and forth with a stiff posture.

She warily looked around, quickly shielding her best friends' bodies. Her dark brown eyes that almost looked like black widened. She needed to do something.

"I've handled your counterpart, don't worry." Demon Kiaran smirked and threw the witch hat from his coat to the ground. "You really do think I'd let your counterpart take my mother's body willingly like this trash?"

"I'm your counterpart, demon. If I'm trash, you're the worst version of it." Human Kiaran chimed in and raised his head without looking at the demon.

"How am I the worst version again?" The demon croaked and flared open his wings in irritation.

"Because I'm superior to you?" The mercenary easily answered and shrugged. Before his counterpart managed to talk more, the blue-eyed teen quickly continued.

"Anyway, old lady. Here's how it's going to go. You'll-"

Then it happened. It happened before Kiaran even finished his sentence, his play, his speech.

A silver arrow locked inside Alea's heart in a heartbeat. It was too fast to even see in naked eyes. It seemed like the scientist also did not notice it for quite some time.

Because it was too fast.

But Alea did notice something strange. The mercenary's eyes were surprised. And it was genuine.

Kiaran reached his hand to the woman. "Wait, no-"

Blood was forced to come out of Alea's mouth, and the woman finally found the reason why Kiaran was shocked. It seemed like he did not know that this would happen. She also did not know.

It was all blurry in her face. She did not know what happened next as she dropped down to the ground and laid there with blood that slowly came out of her chest, dirtying her white lab coat.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Kiaran muttered with a slight waver in his throat. "This wasn't-"

"Hey, demon!" He angrily yelled at his counterpart, who had the same confused face as him. "Is this part of your fucking plan? I thought it's not going to end like this?"

"No. It's not going to end like this." Demon Kiaran agreed, and the mercenary tried to find if it was manipulation or not.

No. He was not like this. He should have another plan. He was a Machiavellian. He should have another plan. This wasn't-

Then he saw the demon's face come to a realization. "Human, someone is-"

Before he managed to finish the sentence, a man with a torn navy cloak kicked the demon to the mirror and sent him back. Then the blindfolded man forcefully took the black arrow in the corner of the mirror.

He then easily shot the mirror with a silver arrow and cracked it. The blindfolded man clicked his tongue before facing Kiaran.

Despite how he was wearing a blindfold, it seemed like he could see everything by how the man smirked when he saw Kiaran staggered back a little when facing him.

"Anti-climatic, isn't it, Kiaran?" The man followed Kiaran's usual movement by tilting his head. He lowered the black bow in his hand and slowly approached the mercenary.

Kiaran tried to control his face and faced the man head-on. Plans were flying in his head as he tried to take the surroundings. He still had Adreanna who would protect him, and she was ready to beat the man right now.

There was also Axel down there. The boy would be up in an hour according to his calculation, but maybe there would be a miscalculation, and the boy would get here and-

"That's alright, mercenary." As if the blindfolded man knew that he was thinking of a plan, the man cut his thoughts off. "I've made a better ending for your play already."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you love it." He let out a deranged laugh and a crazed smile. "I really love your play, you see."

"I just want you to experience your play too." He whined, too mockingly.

"Oh, right. Before that," The man aimed his bow to the back without looking and released a black arrow. It went flying to Cain's tube and cracked the glass.

The water inside quickly came out alongside the man himself. His wavy hair was wet as Cain dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"We'll need a full member of the family to end the play!" The man happily exclaimed and lowered his bow once more.

Kiaran gritted his teeth while still trying to stay composed. Adreanna quickly stepped up and shielded her brother while Valerian tried to aim at the man from afar.

The blindfolded man flashed his teeth and chuckled. "I am considerate. Right, Kiaran?"

✵✵✵✵✵✵

"Oh no, we're lost." A blond teen sighed and accepted defeat while looking at her score in the previous exam.

Another teen beside her with violet eyes only nodded. Her face showed no emotion as she blinked at her score. Her black bob hair draped on top of her shoulder while still staring at the paper.

"Ha!" Teen Alea proudly chimed in and flashed her perfect score. The medium layered brown hair was a little bit messy and Cecilia quickly tried to fix it.

Alea ignored what her violet-eyed best friend did and puffed her chest arrogantly. "This means I'm the one who'll give the dare this time. The great Alea has beaten the Bella and this emotionless chick right here."

"I'm not emotionless," Cecilia stated. Dully. She still tried to braid her best friend's brown hair.

"Yes, we know. But your face told us otherwise." Alea stated that made Isabella chuckle a little.

"Alright, listen here, you two," Alea smirked as an evil plan went inside her mind. "I dare you two to date the famous duo!"

Cecilia quickly stopped her movement, and Isabella's usual kind smile flattered. Both of them looked at Alea as if she had grown another head.

"Date? But I never date." Isabella's soft voice chimed in worry.

"..." Cecilia just stayed silent, of course. A toddler would even know that she had never dated before.

"You two gotta live a little, man. Like me. I'm a gal with many men kneeling before me." Alea grinned playfully and nudged the two of them to the school's field.

There was a red-haired that kept busy nagging a black-haired teen, teasing him to the bone. The two wholly ignored the screaming of the girls around after they won the match.

"Cecilia, because your hair is black, you take Cain. Isabella, you take the headmaster's son and tame the fucker down. Kill him with kindness, as Selena Gomez said." Alea put each of her hands over the two's shoulders, startling Cecilia who still hadn't finished braiding her hair.

It did not even take a week for Alfred to fall for Isabella. The red-haired man had slowly turned into a good boy because of the blonde. Alea proudly watched the two together.

For Cain and Cecilia. They were hopeless at first. Alea had to lock the two together in the class when it was their turn to clean it and hoped for romance to come in their way.

And it did. Cecilia asked him on a date, and damn, Cain's face was priceless. He, of course, accepted her. Who could turn the beautiful Cecilia down? If Cain did turn her down, Alea was going to throw hands.

"Alfred gave me a flower yesterday." It had been a month, and the two had become a slave for love.

"C-cain too. It's lavender." Cecilia's face was now good at showing emotion. You would think she was emotionless and cold if you first met her. But the truth, she was only a hopeless awkward girl.

"So that means the dare is over. You two can break up with them now." Alea shrugged and put down the spoon as she finished eating.

"W-what?" Isabella widened her eyes.

Cecilia's violet eyes saddened as she looked down. "...okay."

"I'm joking!" Alea burst out laughing and slapped Cecilia's shoulder playfully. "I know you two totally fall for them now."

A grave was beautifully filled with lavenders when a blond woman and a brown-haired woman stood in front of it.

"Is it my fault?" Alea whispered. Her eyes were puffy from how much she had been crying.

"It's not. Cecilia died while giving birth. It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself for nonsense, okay?" Isabella rested her hand on her best friend's shoulder.

"You two originally did not even try to date. We've been friends for years, and you never dated even once. She specifically said that she did not want to ever date unless she had to."

"I'm the one who made her date that man and had a baby." Alea clenched her fists and gnawed her lip. "If she didn't date him, she wouldn't marry him, and she wouldn't-"

"Alea!" Isabella who was usually soft-spoken yelled. "It's not your fault."

She grabbed the young scientist's shoulders and made her face her. "It's a fate. Fate comes in various ways. Mine and hers come with your way."

"And her death is also fate. We can't cheat deaths, Alea."

Then Alea finally broke down. She cried pitifully into Isabella's grasp, right in front of their best friend's grave, under the hidden sun.

Then years later, she cried alone in front of Isabella's grave with no one to tell her that it was her fault or not.

"So is this fate too, Bella?" She smiled brokenly to the grave, demanding an answer with her cracking voice. "You got killed by a serial killer. Is it fate too?"

"You two died because of my dare." She gasped for air when the tears kept falling down. This time the sun hid too and started to cry with her.

"I didn't know that you two would marry them that day. I just wanted you two to date and enjoyed your youth." She confessed and choked on her tears. "I was okay with that."

"I was happy that I managed to make you two fall in love because of a fucking funny dare." She chuckled pathetically as the rain fell on her face, mixing with her tears.

"But, maybe if we just stayed together then- maybe if we lived together like we originally plan and-"

"-maybe you two would still be here." Alea fell to her knees and hit the ground with her hands. "You two were too good for them."

"You two were too good for me."

Alea lay on the ground with blood that kept oozing from her heart. Her teary brown eyes stared at the tubes that were holding her dead best friends.

"Am I too bad for you two?" She croaked weakly, not focusing on her surroundings.

"Is it fate to die like this?" She asked, and slowly, her brown locks fell a little to her face. It seemed like fate itself was mocking her. So did the moon and the air. Everything was mocking her.

"Everything that I did, everything that I've done, is it fate?" She asked again. It was such a pathetic sight to see.

"I think it's just-" She coughed and puked an unhealthy amount of blood from her mouth. It tainted her white coat even more.

"-I think it's just my fault." She whispered as a tear finally fell from the corner of her eyes.

The pity lady finally closed her eyes, ignoring the commotion that was happening around her. She shut her eyes closed with tears that kept coming down from her dark brown eyes.

Her heartbeat thumped slowly, waiting for the time to finally stop. So Alea waited. Alone like she always did. Alone like she deserved.

But in between waiting for death, she felt warm. It was as if someone was holding her. No, it was more than someone. There were two people.

They almost felt like Cecilia and Isabella. Alea did not want that. Were they here to get mad at her? What would they think of her situation? It was too embarrassing. She was always the strongest in the group, so they shouldn't see her like this.

So Alea pretended that she was alone until the end.

And when she heard Cecilia and Isabella's voices, softly saying "it's not your fault." to her-

Alea still pretended not to hear.

But for Rune and other people who finally came to her body and tried to rescue the president, they would see a sad smile on Alea's face that was full of warmth.